Phil Spector: the inventor of the Wall of Sound

January 18, 2021 at 09:03 p.m.
Goodbye Phil Spector: What is the Wall of Sound he invented and how does it work? PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons
Goodbye Phil Spector: What is the Wall of Sound he invented and how does it work? PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

 

Controversial and out of the ordinary, the producer Phil Spector returned to the headlines on January 17, 2021 to symbolically say goodbye to a world that saw him at the peak of his career and at the twilight of it, when he recorded with The Beatles and when he entered prison in 2009 for murder in the second degree. There, in compliance with his sentence, he died of the Covid-19 virus at the age of 81.

Coming from a middle-class Jewish family, Harvey Philip Spekter, known universally as Phil Spector, was born on December 26, 1939 in the Bronx, New York, and revolutionized the world of music by creating a one-of-a-kind sound condensation system: The Wall of Sound (The Wall of Sound).

Also called Spector Sound, the wall is a mechanism that emerged in the sixties within the studios Gold Star, in collaboration with the audio engineer Larry Levin and the group of musicians called The Wrecking Crew.

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The intention of this model of production was exploit all the possibilities of the recording studio to create an unusually dense orchestral aesthetic that it was transmitted with fidelity through radios and turntable.

“I was looking for a sound so strong that if the material wasn't the best, the sound would carry the record. It was a case of increase. It all fit together like a puzzle, ”Spector declared around 1964.

The effect was achieved by double or triple the sounds of large instrument ensembles, including electric guitars and acoustic, to create a fuller sound; for example, a part played by an acoustic piano was often duplicated by an electric piano and a harpsichord, so that when mixed correctly, the three instruments were indistinguishable to the viewer.

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Among other features, Spector incorporated a variety of orchestral instruments not previously contemplated in pop music: strings, woodwind, brass and percussion; it also highlighted the reverb of an echo chamber to provide additional texture.

In this regard, the biographer David hinckley I declare that the Wall of Sound was flexible, complex and subtle, and that its components included a rhythm section derived from R&B, generous echo and prominent choruses that mixed percussion, strings, saxophones and human voices.

The characteristics of this recording model had an impact on large bands, such as The Beach Boys, who constantly resorted to the wall for the creation of tracks such as "God only knows", "Wouldn't it be nice" and "Good vibrations".

However, this system also stands out in albums such as Let it be de The Beatles, All things must pass de George Harrison, Plastic Ono Band de John Lennon, Death of a ladie's man de Leonard Cohen, End of the century de Ramones, among others.

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